Mobile Phones Guide

Google Closes in on Apple with 700,000 Apps in Google Play Store

Google reached another milestone earlier today, with 700,000 apps available on its Google Play Store for Android devices.

According to Bloomberg Businessweek, Google is on par with Apple in terms of quantity of apps as the Cupertino company announced last week that its App Store has more than 700,000 apps. Microsoft has some catching up to do as it currently has more than 120,000 apps in the Windows Phone Marketplace.

While Google still lags behind Apple in the numbers of tablet-optimized apps, things are set to change in the near future with its recent release of the Nexus tablets.

In an exclusive interview with The Verge, Hugo Barra, who is the director of product management for Android, shares that part of the company's decision behind building the Nexus 10 is to motivate more developers to code apps for Android tablets. In addition, Android chief Andy Rubin commented that the tablet story for Android is only beginning to take shape with the Nexus 7.

Having more apps doesn't necessarily equate to better quality apps. Global computer security software company Symantec has discovered several notable cases (1) (2) (3) (4) of malware lurking in Google Play Store in the past few months.